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Easy Breezy, not so Lemon Squeezy
Altogether, Safe Chapter 1: Easy Breezy, not so Lemon Squeezy Matilda Rice - I sat at the edge of my bed. My face was beading with sweat as I stared down at my throwing knife. It was 5 am in the morning. Eos was just about to make an appearance in the sky over Camp Half-Blood. Ersa was rolling out the crisp morning dew, making the morning fresh. There was no noise to be heard. Except, that is, for the sound of snoring coming from the bed across the room which inhabited my half-blood sister, Henna. A lovely girl who has been here just a few months longer than me. I had only spoken to her at the dinner table. She was claimed the day she arrived. She originates from Miami, Florida and is looking to major in Aerodynamic Engineering in University. I looked across at Henna. Surely not every demigod experiences night terrors as bad as mine. Tonight was a particularly bad one. Always the same plot, just different variations. As if I'm viewing from different angles. As one would with a selfie. The dream always starts out the same. A man dressed head to toe in Greek Armour. On his breastplate had a very unique sigil. I vaguely recognize the symbol but the man, by no means, looked familiar. The man stood in shack in the middle of nowhere. In his hand, he held an electrically charged staff with a sword sheathed at his side. "Oh, dear ones. The blood that runs through your veins... I cannot wait to have it in mine!" he said and chuckled. The angle changed. On the ground, tied back to back with a large beam in the middle, was a teenage boy and girl. Both with dark, messy brown hair. The boy, wearing a green t-shirt looked like he was in a lot of pain. One of his eyes were swollen shut. His leg looked broken. But he still, somehow, had a steel resolve about him. The girl, in a dark red hooded pullover, had marks on her face, as if she had been struck with a slap. Her bottom lip was swollen and she smelled like... burned skin. She looked semi-conscious. "Someone is going to find us... AND KILL YOU!" the boy shouted and began to wince as he said it. The Greek armored man chuckled again, "As soon as I find a suitable sorceress to perform the kind of magic I want... You won't be heard of again" the man said, he lightly grazed the across the pectoral region of the boy who tossed in pain. "Cry all you want. No god will save you now" he said, took one last look, as if displeased, and walked away slowly. The boy, still reeling from a shot of electricity through his body, fell sideways but wriggled his body so he was close enough that the girl could here. "Shell... If you can here me. Pray. Pray as hard as you can. Hopefully someone will find us" said the boy. The dream ended there. That's when I woke up in a pool of sweat. My arms twitching, How can I tell if this is real or not or if is just a dream. From everything that has happened the past few weeks, I'm not sure how much I trusted my own judgement. I looked at my clock. To my dismay, it only read "5:17am". Not the most pleasant time, considering campers were to be up and out of their cabins by 6:30am. I sheathed my knife and looked blankly at the pillow of my bed. I'd have loved to have tried to fall back asleep but I knew it wouldn't be possible. So, up and out was my only option. I stood slowly and quietly made a sound not unlike a yawning sea-lion. I fumbled through my clothes trunk and pulled out a fresh faded pink "Camp Half-Blood" t-shirt. The letters themselves had begun to fade so all you could make out was "Cam Ha ood". I completed my ensemble with a pair of leggings and silver combat boots, strapping one of my knives to my ankle. You never know what wanders Camp Half-Blood at this hour. I quietly closed the door of Cabin #84 behind me. My first port of call was across to the dining pavilion. What was my plan? To eat an apple to the core and chug down a nice, black cup of coffee. No better way to get your day started, is what my mother would have said. She always had at least two cups of coffee before she'd head off for work. "Caffeine keeps a pilot... caffeinated... and awake" she said, with a spring in her step. I took a seat on one of the benches. I'm pretty sure it was a bench for the Nike cabin, but it was 5:37 am in the morning, I doubt I'd have Holly or Laurel Victor marching towards me with a spear pointed at me. I sat there sipping the coffee that appeared before me just as I sat down. Memories of my previous life began to swirl through my mind as well as the images of that boy and girl chained up in that shack in god knows where. It made me sick. What was this mans plan? Who were these kids? Deep in concentration, I was startled by a voice "Can't sleep?". I looked around to see a blond headed boy, about 5 foot 10 in height, wearing light grey plaid pyjama pants, slippers, a white vest and covered in a light grey dress robe. That was Malcome Pace, the second-in-command of Cabin #6. He was the son of Athena. "I don't sleep much these days. It must be the, eh, new surroundings and still adjusting. I suppose you know how that is" I said, replying to his question. He raised an eyebrow at me and pointed at the bench beside me. "May I?" he asked, indicating still at the bench. "Oh, eh, yeah sure. Take a seat" I said nervously. This was a son of Athena. The Goddess of Wisdom. His eyebrow raise had me believing he had me all figured out. "So. You're Matilda, right? Daughter of... Aeol- wait. Zephyros, right? That's neat. A legacy of Triptolemus, The Lord of Farming. Quiet the combo there. Where are you from, Matilda?" Malcolm asked politely. "Seattle, Washington originally" I replied with ease. His smile made it feel like he was trustworthy, somewhat like a psychiatrist. Malcolm laughed a bit when I mentioned my home town. "Seems right. Daughter of a wind god would be from the Windy City" he said jokingly. "And you've been here how long now?" Malcolm asked. "Eh, coming up on 2 months now" I replied "It's been nice here. I'm still finding my groove and stuff" I told him, nodding. "Two months and you still don't feel settled yet? Study suggests after two weeks, your body becomes accustomed to new surroundings and adapts. So, are you sure it's the new surroundings that isn't letting you sleep?" Malcolm asked. I turned my head slightly and could see he was now looking directly at me. His eyes a steel grey, as if looking right into my body. His left eyebrow arched as if to say I can tell there's something up. "Just some bad... sleeping pattern I suppose. If you have wisdom on a better way to get a nights sleep, I'm all ears" I said, avoiding the topic of my dream as to not raise suspicion. Malcolm's eyebrow twitched again as if to say Mmhmm, really? "Well look, Matilda. Demigods, as blessed as we are sometimes... Sleep is just one thing you can't predict as a demigod. Get enough sleep, sure. But get enough uninterrupted sleep? That'd be more like it. But the contents of your dreams begin to worry you... Just know you have friends here, okay?" Malcolm said and placed his hand on my shoulder. "Well, I suppose-" I began to say. Just as those words were spoken, a horn went off up near the Big House. To which Malcolm rolled his eyes. "Chore time, I suppose" Malcolm said "But hold your thought. I'll get back to you later, okay?" He said and gave me a warm smile, just as he got up and walked back towards Cabin #6. I too got up and made my way across the pavilion towards Cabin #84. I opened the door to find Henna lacing up her boots, sitting on her bed. "Oh hey, I wondered where you went" Henna said, looking up with quick smile. "Oh just couldn't sleep. I suffer with nightmares" I said ominously. "Preach. I thought it was just me" Henna replied "I mean, in what universe would Dwayne Johnson get his own show and have no one but Phobos and Deimos as guests. Now that's just bad television" Henna shook her head. "Oh" I said, gazing bemused at Henna "Yeah, it can be quite a trip, alright" "But when I arrived, I did have a recurring bad dream for weeks. I'd end up in pain. Sweating. One time I woke up with a slash on my arm" Henna said, staring straight at me telling her story. Her eyes were a similar color to mine, a hazel shade of brown. Her blonde hair swept to one side. "It ended up being a quest I had to do. I had to track down a group of Telekhines in Upstate, New York. They had concocted a malevolent dream potion. Morpheus was furious. He required me to go and hunt them down, take the dream potion and destroy it" "And did you?" I asked and looked cautiously at Henna. "Find and destroy the potion" "Oh yeah. I had to go to Buffalo. I went with my friend, Alexander Silcan from the Aceso Cabin? We almost died. But we survived. And destroyed the potion" Henna said with a chuffed smile. "Maybe that's whats happening to me" I took a deep breathe. "My dreams have been pretty bad the past few days. I sat on my bed and told Henna the story of my dream. This armored soldier was torturing two kids in some abandoned shack. The kids are starving and beaten. The man says he wants their blood in his and all the vile things I had seen him do in my dreams. "Whoa" Henna said, her eyes bewildered. "That's dark. Milda, you need to go to the Big House with this. Maybe it's a quest. Perhaps we can get someone to interpret it or get you some help getting clues" "Malcolm said I could talk to him?" I replied. "Milda, go straight up to Chiron. Explain the dream. Let him know whats going on. It sounds like those kids are in danger" Henna said with a sharp, strong tone. "I can't ignore it... I can't. Their cries... I have to do something" I said, blinking back a tear. "Go on. Get going. Go talk to Chiron" Henna said and waved me away. I stood and made for the door, closing it behind me. I marched up to the Big House with determination, fear and anxiety. Just as I got to the porch steps of the Big House, Chiron emerged from the house. "Morning, Ms. Rice. What can I do for you?" Chiron said calmly. He always had a comforting demeanor which made life at camp much more relaxed. "I've been having dreams. I think someone is in serious trouble" I said with a panicked tone. Chiron knitted his eyebrows "Do proceed" -